10 more to watch: Mike Huckaby

March 07, 2001

Mike Huckaby is a dance music purist extraordinaire. He’s the kind who knows all the roots and culture of electronic dance music, who sees beyond the hype and divisions in the scene and knows exactly what this music is, the kind of purist whose love for music has literally had him flown around the globe.

For years Huckaby has been consistently supplying the Detroit community with quality dance music from around the world in a variety of styles, emphasizing what’s best about each with a range from Kerri Chandler to Basic Channel. Though synonymous with the Record Time Dance Room, he has done far more than give blank stares to people asking for the “Chuck Chuck” record (one of the burdens of working at a record store is having its clientele sing you instrumental songs to identify a record: please bring in tapes) and point new DJs to quality records. He’s produced quality house and techno for noted local labels Harmony Park and Definitive as well as overseas labels such as Ferox and Cross Section — and his lifelong DJ career has taken him from the Music Institute to as far away as Germany and Japan.

What people often don’t know about Huckaby is that behind the neutral face there’s an agenda going on. This could be hard to tell from a man whose mission is to “just push the music and leave everything else behind.” Huck’s main issue is that he has “hated to see house and techno so divided,” urging people to see “the similarities rather than the differences.” Any true fan of dance music sees beyond the boundaries and just finds quality music. Huck has always done just that, being one the most consistent people ever in the Detroit scene. You can always expect quality from this man.